Now that Amazon Payments is no longer an option for purchases in Cydia, users are forced to use PayPal, at least for the time being. Saurik has noted that he plans on offering an alternative to Cydia, but until that day comes, users are forced to use PayPal.
The problem with PayPal, is that you cannot make a payment via Cydia if you have 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) enabled on your PayPal account. You’ll simply receive an error message stating that you need to add your security key to the end of the password in order to login. This, unfortunately, doesn’t work, leaving users who haven’t set up the initial auth with PayPal unable to purchase Cydia tweaks.
This issue is due to the mobile PayPal interface presented while inside Cydia. If you can bring your authorization outside of Cydia and into mobile safari, you can invoke the desktop interface and login to PayPal that way. Thankfully, a new jailbreak tweak makes this easy.
Step 1: Install Pheromone (repo: http://cydia.hbang.ws)
Step 2: On the Mobile Express Checkout page, tap the Safari button to open the PayPal login page via Safari
Step 3: Once the PayPal login page is open in Safari, tap the address bar, swipe down, and tap Request Desktop Site
Step 4: Once on the desktop site, login, authenticate using your 2-factor key, and tap the Agree and Pay button
Step 5: You’ll be met with a blank white Safari page. Close Safari, open Cydia, and close the PayPal Mobile Express Checkout page
Step 6: You should now see a page stating that Cydia has been authorized to bill you. Tap the “Pay Now” button to complete the transaction.
Yes, it’s a bit on the convoluted side, but at least this lets you make purchases without having to disable 2FA, which is simply not an option for those who value their security. On the bright side, once you set up authentication, you can continue to use PayPal to make purchases without going through all of these steps again.
What do you think? Have you experienced issues making purchases with PayPal?